McDonald Roberts is currently manager of the Real Estate Department of Allegheny County and has received the endorsements of Pennsylvania NOW PAC, Gertrude Stein Political Club, Georgia Berner, Dan Onorato, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette which called her "an experienced manager with a broad background that has prepared her to be county controller" and "who has the most grounded notion of what it means to be county controller."

As I recall, CM, you make a big deal about your degree. Yet when talking about the effect of allowing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy to sundown (as was written into law in 2001), your math was off by a factor of ten. Whether you were deliberately trying to mislead us (showing how your degree has affected your ethics) or whether you are simply not that capable (showing what your degree is worth), your personal example does not make much of a case for the value of a degree.

Wow. The fact I made a typo some time ago rears its ugly head again. Nice. Way to try to change the argument.

Oh, yes, I do have an advanced degree from of the Nation's leading business schools (as well as professional certification [CPA]). I'm proud of that degree and it's allowed me opportunities that would been difficult, at best, to get had I not had that degree. So, stuff it.

Ms. McDonald is *not* qualified to a Controller. She's a three-fer hack in Allegheny County.

Even the IMA does not mandate that a controller in a private organization possess an accounting degree, let alone for public office. That is just a silly comment to make. Controller's are not required to, just as not all legislators are required to possess law degrees. Even district judges are not required to have a law degree in all jurisdictions, as we see with the Shields candidacy. It's also funny that this poster does not comment at all on Roberts' actual plan, as blogged about, but instead chooses to reiterate some hateful guff that completely lacks substance.

You know, CM, there is a difference between making a persuasive argument (using either fact or logic) and simply declaring yourself smarter than other people here.

Personally I don't think you made a typo in that previous discussion, I think you were at best repeating someone else's mistake and at worst trying to mislead whoever read your comment. But obviously I can't prove my suspicions. Just like you can't prove it was just a typo.

Hey, you have invoked your advanced degree in the past as proof of the superiority of your ocmments, but you want a free pass if you make mistakes in the economics of your comments? And you want me to stuff it?

It's okay. :) I merely wrote that controllers (either private or public) are not required to possess an accounting degree, just like legislators are not required to possess law degrees or even some judicial candidates are not required to have law degrees or have practiced as attorneys (in some jurisdictions). Also, possessing an accounting degree is not the only way to obtain that specialized knowledge. Accounting expertise can be obtained through real practice such as successful business ownership as in Ms. Roberts' case.

I think we should look at the actual candidates running and instead of merely writing them off as being "unqualified" for some frivolous reason, we should examine their actual qualifications and proposals for office. I don't think any of the candidates have accounting degrees, so should we just allow the office to go vacant until a CPA appears??? So silly!